Lawrence on 'Snow' patrol

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Director Francis Lawrence is off to work on "Snow and the Seven," Walt Disney Pictures' live-action East-meets-West take on the Snow White fairy tale. Scott Rudin and Andrew Gunn are producing.

The story, a fantasy adventure, centers on a British girl being raised in 19th century Hong Kong. When she realizes that her destiny is to conquer an evil force, she must prepare to fight by being trained by seven Shaolin monks.

The long-gestating project originally was written by Josh Harmon and Scott Elder. The current draft is by Scott Moore and Jon Lucas. The studio said the title of the project is only a working title and will change.

The studio is eyeing a start in 2008, with China likely the site of the shoot.

Yuen Woon-ping is serving as the fight choreographer on the movie, which is being executive produced by Gunn Films' Ann Marie Sanderlin along with Anthony Wong and Dede Nickerson.

Brigham Taylor and LouAnne Brickhouse are overseeing for Disney.

Lawrence, who hails from the music video world, is slowly carving himself a space in the big-budget genre arena. His feature directorial debut was the comic book adaptation "Constantine," and he is now in postproduction on "I Am Legend," the Will Smith actioner based on the Richard Matheson novel.